


A Hostile Engagment

by Sarcastic_Raspberry



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 19:02:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17772470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcastic_Raspberry/pseuds/Sarcastic_Raspberry
Summary: With Princess Adora's nineteenth birthday on the horizon, she is tasked with finding a husband to inherit the Kingdom of Etheria along side her. She has two weeks to choose a husband among the suitors and deal with any other troubles that my bubble to the surface in the mean time.The fate of her kingdom depends on it.





	A Hostile Engagment

Adora found herself facing a mirror, blonde hair pulled back so tightly that it hurt. Her mother stood behind her, fastening said hair into place with precise movements of her long hands.

“You have such beautiful hair,” she cooed.

As those same hands came over her face, Adora allowed herself to find comfort in the rare contact. Even as she glanced at Shadow Weaver’s mask, knowing she’d never seen her mother’s face, that maternal pull was there.

Even if that pull grew fainter with the words, “I’m sure the suitors will be delighted no matter how you style it.”

“Do I have to  _ style  _ it?” Adora asked, forcing herself to smile as she sat forward, thus pulling her head out of Shadow Weaver’s hands. “I mean,” she swatted the usual ponytail uselessly as she turned around in her chair, “this looks nice, right?”

Shadow Weaver laughed, though it was less cheerful than it was brief and dark.

“Oh, Adora,” she said, hands coming over her shoulders to face her forward once more. “I’m sure the maids will have a delightful style picked out if you don’t already. I’ve already spoken with a few of the neighboring kingdoms- I’m sure you wouldn’t want to disappoint them  _ or  _ their princes, would you?”

“Of course not,” she snapped, hands curling into fists over her knees. “I would never, ma’am.”

“No you wouldn’t, dear. I know you’ll put in your best effort tomorrow evening. Now, speaking of the maids,” her hands retracted, folding neatly over one another before disappearing into her sleeves, “I’ll have them finish with dressing you for today. I need to run to the drawing room and - we can’t afford to forget anything this week, you must understand.”

“Of course, mother. I understand.”

Shadow Weaver only nodded, knowing that Adora would see it through the mirror.

This left Adora to whine in the back of her throat with her eyes locked with those of her reflection, hands coiling tightly around each other as they rose and fell in her lap. Finally, the whine was punctuated with a breathy sigh, throwing her torso forward so that she could hold up her head while leaning onto the table.

Today was the first day of the end of her life as a princes- the first day of her life as a queen to some foreign kingdom with a husband to match.

Subconsciously, her fingernails picked at the paint of her vanity while she over thought every possible detail of her future.

“No,” she said, forcing herself to take a deep breath, her hand clenching and unclenching as she once again met her own gaze in the mirror, “you can do this- you’re doing this for mom- for your kingdom. You’ve got this,” she laughed. “Just- talk to some boys, learn their kingdom situation- understand what they can offer. Just… talk to some boys.”

She ignored the way her voice cracked near the end, choosing instead to focus on her expression.

“I mean-” she closed her eyes with another laugh. She stood, finding the bottom drawer of her dresser. “Of  _ course,  _ you’ve got this.” She pulled out the stack of bound letters and notes, running her hands over it. “You’ve been studying for  _ months.” _

“Studying what?”

The voice caused her to jump, almost falling onto her side as she fumbled to slide the makeshift book behind her back. After all, she had to hide it from the girl who’d just entered. Dainty and with a round face, the girls lack of height did nothing to detract from her intimidating presence as she stared down at Adora. Going as far as to tilt her head, she still expecting an answer to her question.

“Ah- um-!” she scrambled for any answer other than the truth before sighing and bringing the stack into her lap. “The princes… for the ball.”

“Oh,” the girl’s voice was cool, pulling at the skirt of her gown while suddenly avoiding eye contact. “You’ve been  _ studying _ them?”

“Yep,” Adora grunted as she stood, “I’m ready. I need to be.”

“Right,” she said, just standing there, barely moving to do much of anything.

This did nothing to upset Adora, as she wanted to put off actually getting ready for as long as possible, but the way she looked did stir something uncomfortable inside of her.

“Excuse me,” she said, stepping forward, “What was your name again? I don’t think I’ve seen you around the castle.”

“Oh yeah,” she said before dipping down into a half-curtsy with a stiff smile across her lips. “Glimmer- I’m new so, sorry if I seem a bit off.”

“Oh it’s no trouble,” Adora said, “I’m just surprised- is Spritinia sick?”

“What? No- I mean- She’s fine! Just- they thought I’d work best up here as your personal maid, you know? Heh- I mean, you usually get new maids when you’re getting married and stuff.”

Adora stared at her blinking for a moment. “Oh- pssh-! Yeah, of course, I knew that,” she lied. “Just didn’t think it would happen until I at least, ya know,” her eyes fell to the letters, running her thumb absently over its cover as she whined, “pick one.”

“Yeah well,” Glimmer looked to the side, grumbling, “I bet a lot of princesses wished they had that problem.”

Adora nodded at that, face tightening as glimmer stalked over to the wardrobe on the opposite side of the room.

“So,” she said, “What uh- what were you thinking of wearing today? So we can start getting you laced up.”

“Uh- I dunno. Usually Spritinia just  _ picks  _ something.”

“Oh-kay…” Glimmer said, sorting through the dresses before letting out a sharp gasp, “How about this one?”

She pulled out a sparkling pink number with a sheer fabric across the shoulders, tulle spilling out of the bottom where more opaque fabric was held up with bows on either side.

She wrinkled her nose and laughed. “Uh, since tonight I’m just  _ meeting  _ them,” she began, standing up from the ground with her notes still clutched to her chest,  “what if we saved that for the actual ball?”

Glimmer shrugged, putting it back only to produce a slimmer dress, its fabric drenched in a more saturated red.

“How about this one?” she asked, lips forced into a half-smile.

“Yeah, sure,” she laughed.

Laying it over Adora’s bed, Glimmer said, “Great! Go ahead and get dressed and-”

“Wait, you’re not gonna dress me?” she squeaked.

If Glimmer’s smile had been strained before, now it was unnaturally forced.

“Oh,” she said, “sorry, I guess I forgot that you… don’t know how to dress yourself.”

Adora pulled back and blushed. “Ah- no! No I can dress myself- totally. It’s just that Spritinia never gave me a chance, you know? Tch,” she tossed the binder onto the bed, “I’m actually super glad to do it I mean-” she gave a snort of laughter, “I  _ am _ nineteen now- about time I was allowed to dress myself, right?”

Glimmer’s face fell as she tilted her head.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yep!” she scooped up the dress and shuffled over to the privacy screen on the other side of the room, pulling it around her as she began to undress. With a final thought, she stuck her head back out to ask, “Uh, could you flip to page twenty of my notes?” she asked, “There should be a list of the suitors.”

Glimmer pulled a face as Adora disappeared behind the screen once more. Still, she crossed the room and sat on the bed as she began to leaf through the pages.

“Found it!” she said.

“Good- uh, can you just read the attributes on the side and let me guess who you’re describing?”

Glimmer had to avoid laughing at the request.

“Sure thing,  _ princess,” _ she mumbled low enough so that only she could hear.

And so she went down the list of descriptions, Adora shooting names back at her without missing a beat. Most of the descriptions were extremely formal without much room for flowery language to enhance them. Still, she found herself snickering at a few of the annotations, such as:  _ “Described by a Marquis’s Handmade as: Hunky.” _

Half way down the list, she found a description that made her  _ actually  _ laugh. “Okay- here’s a keeper,” Glimmer sighed, laying back on Adora’s pillows with the binder open over her head. “Which of your many,  _ many _ glamorous suitors enjoys ‘long walks on the beach, music, and’” she let out a groan which morphed into a laugh, “‘having fun with a beautiful soul?’ Ugh- where did you even find this stuff!?”

“That’s Prince Seahawk,” Adora grunted as she fit the strap over her shoulder, “He actually sent that to me in a letter.”

“Did all of them send letters?”

“Nope,” the strap was too tight, so she reached behind her to loosen it, “Just hi- ya-AH!”

She screamed, falling back and knocking over the privacy screen in the process.

Glimmer shot up at hearing the scream, darting over the edge of the bed while exclaiming, “Princess!” only to see Adora with the bottom of her dress facing a different direction than the top half, which had been flung backwards over her body with her arm through a strap that was meant to be over her back.

“Glimmer,” she whined, “I’m sorry- I think I need help.”

She sighed, tossing the binder behind her as she got up from the bed.

“Come on,” she said, stooping down to hoist Adora up by the arm. “There you go- take it easy.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry- you probably think I’m just- just some dumb princess that can’t take care of herself.”

“No no, I wouldn’t say that,”  _ to your face. _

She helped untangle the dress from around Adora’s arm, pulling it off of her torso to begin positioning it correctly.

“There you go,” she said, already halfway done with the buttons.

Adora didn’t seem to brighten up, her eyes locked on the floor as she allowed Glimmer to finish handling the dress.

“All done!” she finally chimed, coming to stand in front of Adora. “Ugh…”

“What?”

“Ah- it’s nothing.”

“What- what is it? Is my hair messed up?”

“Uh, maybe?”

Adora looked over her to the vanity, spotting a bruise forming along the side of her brow.

She shrieked, hands coming over her mouth in surprise. “No no no!” she said, “This is the week where the suitors are coming- I can’t have a bruise! What will they think of Etheria- of  _ me!? _ Oh, and the-”

“Hey- calm down!” Glimmer grabbed her by the arms, forcing her to look down at her, “No one’s gonna care about a bruise. We’ll just style your hair over it.”

She nodded, ignoring the queasy feeling that rose up from her stomach and into her throat.

“There we go, now sit down, I’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Okay, okay- yeah, you’re right.” She fell back into the chair, arms slouched at her sides. “How am I supposed to get through this week? I could barely survive this  _ hour.” _

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Glimmer said. “I mean, it looks like you’re prepared for it. How bad can meeting a bunch of dudes be?”

“I guess,” she closed her eyes and held her breath, forcing herself to calm down before finally releasing it in one slow exhale. “Yeah- you’re right. I can do- ow!”

She yelped as Glimmer began brushing her hair over the mark.

“Oops! Sorry.”

“No no, you’re fine,” she said, “Thanks, by the way. This must be a pretty rough first day.”

“Nah, it’s way better than I thought it was going to be, actually.”

A nightmare involving a spoiled princess slinging a shoe at her head for bringing the wrong color of hair ties came to mind.

She discarded the image, turning back to Adora. For a moment, she thought of the events of the week to come and decided how unfair everything about it was.

This girl wasn’t evil. At least, not outwardly so.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared past Adora’s head and into her own reflection.

She was trusting and simple.

_ Does she even know what she’s doing here? _

She was brought back to the real world with the sound of a hiss and the hair in her hands being tugged forward.

“Oh, sorry,” she said again, “Did I get a knot?”

“No no- well, you did, but you’re fine! It happens.”

The smile she gave to Glimmer was a genuine based on an assumed friendship.

Glimmer smiled, knowing that she couldn’t return it.

* * *

 

The doors to her drawing room flying open, Shadow Weaver glided across the floor. She didn’t look behind her as the doors shut on their own, bathing her in shadows as she looked over the table in the middle of the room.

The crystal interior of the table lit to life, activated by her presence as a man’s hollow, pale face appeared on its surface.

“Shadow Weaver,” he laughed in greeting.

“King Hordak,” she said in turn, bowing her head slightly. “All is ready for your arrival.”

“Yes,” he said, “Though, I’m afraid that there will be a slight delay.”

She shot back, eyes widening slightly under her hood.

“‘A delay?’” she parroted, “but the suitors are set to arrive tonight. Adora will not have a chance to-”

“Silence,” he said, voice stern and calm. “You know as well as I do that this is only for the purpose of the other kingdoms. Whether I meet her before others or we are rumored to meet in secret prior to our engagement changes nothing.”

She nodded, opening her mouth and closing it before finally saying, “My King, if I may- while I understand your repose in this situation, I still do not know how you expect Adora to choose you from the list of suitors who have thrown their hats into the ring, so to speak, if she cannot even meet you.”

He smiled, “Shadow Weaver- Do not tell me that your position as a Crowned Princess has had you forget where your talents truly lie. Now, did I recruit a talkative peasant? Or a witch?”

She pulled her head down, “I understand, My King. I will prepare a secondary plan at once.”

“Good,” he said, “In the meantime, I will take care of our  _ guests _ in the southern portion of your Kingdom.” He let out a thick laugh, “Or should I say,  _ my _ kingdom.”


End file.
